Dani

I was hidden in one of the drawers of a desk right beside the open door. One of the scientists had rushed out to inspect Mia's diversion while the others had stayed here and finished their conversation about us Elementals at a long table, coffees in hand. My mouth had dropped at the terrible things that they were planning for us, I couldn't wait to leave this place.

Eventually Mia's head peaked out from behind the door. She took in my surroundings and then cautiously motioned for me to move out from the drawer very carefully. I stretched my leg out and put it on the ground, then the other. Carefully I crawled out the rest of the way and then out the ajar door, letting out a breath that I hadn't known I was holding.

Mia grabbed me in a hug and then we both ran off to get everyone. "Should we get Cole too?" I asked.

"Why? He isn't going on the mission." Mia questioned.

"We can't just leave him here, he's an Elemental too. If we leave then they'll just do what they plan to do with us to him." I reasoned.

"Ok, we can't leave him here, but what do we do with him?" she asked.

"Can't we just take him with us?"

"How do we know that he's on our side and not theirs? We can't take Cole with us if he's loyal to them. They could just track us down through him." Mia replied.

"Cole wouldn't do that." I told her, but I wouldn't allow myself to think through all the details. Was there something that I was holding back from myself to keep from being suspicious? He had pretty much protected the scientists the other night. Was it because he worked with them or didn't want me to get hurt?

"Listen," Mia started. "I know that Cole is a good guy and all, but what if it's just an act? He could just be keeping us here through you. I don't wanna take that risk."

"Just let me talk to him." I pleaded.

"Fine, we can get everyone, you can talk to him in front of us, and then we can let everyone decide." I agreed and then we ran down the hall in a hurry.

Once we had everyone lined up in mine and Mia's room, all that was left to do was convince them that we should take Cole, which might not be an easy task. He hadn't really helped himself by being rude at the beginning of training.

"First, Mia and I found out some information about the 'good' scientists." then I played back the video and watched all their responses carefully, especially Cole's. I stealthily pulled out my watch and started recording Cole. Either he didn't notice, or didn't care, because he didn't say anything about it.

"Both Mia and I agree that we have to go asap, but we don't agree on what to do with Cole." I informed them. Cole raised his eyebrows at me, but I gave him a face that said to be quiet or things wouldn't turn out well.

"I think that we get him out, but I'm not sure about taking him with us. How do we know he isn't working with the scientists? He's the one who trained us." Mia commented.

"He's an Elemental and he has way more training than us. You've seen how well he fights, we'll need him," I started. "As for him working with the scientists, I have a bit of evidence that he isn't. When I showed you the playback of the scientists talking I recorded his facial expressions. Does this look like someone who's guilty to you?"

Then I played back his expression while we watched the scientists talking. I was subtle, but you could tell that he was both surprised and angry by the look in his eyes, the only place he showed emotion when he wanted to keep it in check, and it was hard for anyone other than the people who knew him to decipher them.

The video was done, so I continued to speak. "He obviously isn't working with him, so we have to take him with us. What do you guys think?"

Everyone said that he needed to come, the only question now was how to get out. Astrid laid out a map of the school that they had given her when we first got here.

"We need to go at night, it's the only way we might be able to get out. We wake up at 11:30 and then pack your bags and take off your watches, they might be able to track us with those. Then we meet out here and take the back way to the EDs. We can fly them out of here, get the serum in Australia, and destroy it. Hopefully we get there in time." Astrid explained.

"What do we need to take with us?" Gale asked.

"Just clothes and money, food won't be necessary because we have Mia and Iris. And don't pack the clothes you got from here, just the pair you came in. They might be able to track us through those too. We can use the money we bring to get more.

"We're finally getting out of here!" Mia exclaimed.

"About time." I muttered under my breath. No one heard me except her and we laughed while everyone else looked at us weirdly.

"Now, go about your day as if nothing new has happened. If we do anything differently it'll raise suspicion. They already probably think we're up to something." Cole told us, looking at the little ones, Iris, Jade, and Conrad.

"And you two," he continued looking at Mia and I. "Go to your room and act sick. Hurry before you're caught." So we rushed to our room and laid down in bed, tossing and turning from all our nervous energy.

Finally, our watches beeped. I roused myself from my stupor and got out of bed quietly. Then I got in the shower, taking in the warm water. Who knows how long it would be until I get to take one again? I thought

Then I changed from my pjs to my clothes I had worn here, a t shirt and leggings, and walked out of the bathroom. Poor Mia was in her cheer outfit, she obviously couldn't wear her pjs since they didn't cover enough to be out in.

"Here, take this." I told her, handing her a pair of my pajama pants and a tank top. She gratefully put them on and came back out of the bathroom looking happier. We both discarded our watches and then walked out in the hallway.

Only Raidon and Conrad were out, both looking a bit dazed from waking up so early. Conrad looked at me, bleary eyed, and then looked back down at his phone, playing some game that involved shooting people. I guess that's one way to get ready to fight.

Slowly the others trickled out looking sleepy and having dark circles under their eyes. Then we crept to the EDs and took them out, clumsily putting on the bridle and other riding gear. We walked them out to the hallway and to the closest door, unaware of the quiet feet behind us.

We opened the door, thinking all this was way too easy. It was. The people behind us and attacked all at once, using the element of surprise. We all whipped around and started fighting, we had more training so this was an unfair fight for them, right? Wrong.

These guys knew what they were doing. They tackled us, hit us with poles, and even knocked out Conrad.

"Everyone, get back!" I shouted. The younger ones followed my orders, dragging Conrad along with them, but everyone else was hesitant. "Move or you get fried!" That convinced them to move alright. They ran back and then I created a barrier between the ninja/scientists telling the others to fly away.

Once they were out of reach they stopped and waited for me. I climbed onto Ember and flew far enough away to be out of harms reach, and then I extinguished the flame. They watched as we flew away, defeated.

It took a while for it to sink in as we all swirled and did flips in the air. We were really out of there.

AN: Sorry it took me so long. My computer got a virus and it to FOREVER to get it fixed. I hope it was worth waiting for.